After a weekend away, I am back with another update :) I thought I'd post the entire scene as it is now because I think I'm going to repaint the characters as my next step and I want to compare how they look in the end to the entire scene. If you have any remarks before I go back to the characters I would really appreciate them, I want this picture to turn out the best I can make it so I'd love to hear your input.

that far off sky just makes my mouth water. i like being able to see the underpainting color of your tree, it's amost totally yellow, but i can see how that will glow through once you put the bark on. i'm learning quite a bit just watching your progress. thanks!

no crits here, but there's one thing i just thought of; having an arrow of spear or something savage sticking out of dude's ribs. like he was pinned to the tree and hung there. gives him a bit moe backstory and adds to forboding. but if you think that's too over the top i woulnd't blame you.

really good work so far,
looking forward to seeing it get even better,
~B

PS - just took a second look and found a crit...

the house, or shed or whatever behind them is too small. there are trees much farther back in the scene that are barely smaller than the trees in the midground. i would make the house 2 or 3 times bigger, still have it off to the side and put it down in a valley a bit more. and then define the line of a hill that cuts through the trail and goes up to the farthest tree. you may have envisioned that hill already, it just doesn't read. anyway, that will break up your midground, where the characters are, and your background. you also may consider indicating a steep hill in the foreground between the log and where the skeleton is. he'd have to be pretty high up, cause we're looking down at the characters.

btw, i think it's a testament to how beautiful your image is looking that it was pretty hard to see that stuff. i just love those colors. cheers.

I worked on the characters a bit more, specifically the grownup. I am trying some moodier lighting too, I'm messing around with it right now but can't seem to put anything together that I'm satisfied with, maybe I'll post two versions and ask for an opinion a bit later. I wasn't too happy with the super bright and happy colors from before, but at the same time I don't want the colors to be too dark or unsaturated. I'll try a few things, meanwhile hopefully you'll like the new character more. I promise I'll get to fixing the crits before my next update as well :)

Hi Ramy, your sense of colour is really impressive. I Like your capacity to vary the local colour of the objects and not letting it to be bored. The sky is very nice.
I know it´s at early stage, but maybe you´d pay attention to some anatomical details like the boy's left arm.
Keep this good work up, mate.

Anzibon: Thanks so much for the kind comments, I *tried* to do what you said but I'm not 100% sure it turned out the way you described, hopefully you can give me some guidance on the next update

Nigio: I am still planning to repaint the boy, the reason I partly repainted the man now is that he was interfering with the lighting I was trying to do Thanks though, I can see how it's an issue and will make sure to spend time on it.

A lot of people have been saying that the colors look nice and such, but I am not 100% satisfied with them, I was trying some variations but I just can't seem to come up with anything I like. The first one I like the mood but it is too dark and lacks the contrast I want, but the other two might be too bright? I'm not sure, please give me your opinion on the colors because I'm really stuck in a rut right now.

I think the one on the right is my favorite too, my only issue is that I feel that the sky is too bright and takes away from the focus on the characters. Hopefully someone will have some suggestions in terms of bringing them together, or propose a completely new lighting scheme For now, I'm going to work on detailing the characters.

I decided to work more on the characters for now, starting with the grown up. This is about 25% of the size at which I'm working, you finally get to see some more refined shading and such, still not 100% done but close enough that I don't need to work on him any more until the final detailing. Hopefully I can finish the other two characters by the end of the week.

I tried to combine #2 and 3 from my three lighting/color schemes from before, but I am still very unsure with it, I'd really appreciate some input if possible, if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Thanks for the positive feedback I am working so hard on the detailing right now, taking forever on each minute detail haha because I am repainting pretty much everything that is already there right now. What a painful process x_x Hopefully it will all turn out well though.

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